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February 2010

February 19

Radio Ville-Marie needs $100,000 to get on air in Gatineau

February 19, 2010

A new Christian radio station in the Ottawa-Gatineau region could be on the airwaves some time this year, as long as the $100,000 price tag for broadcasting doesn’t stand in the way. On Sept. 23, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved a request for the archdiocese of Gatineau to broadcast French language programming from Radio Ville-Marie , a station based in Montreal.

Ordinandi Dinner reaches out to students

February 19, 2010

TORONTO - With more than 1,700 tickets sold and 400 high school students expected to attend, this year’s Ordinandi Dinner will be the biggest in its 19-year history. Among the 1,700 guests for the March 2 dinner will be Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins, several priests and hundreds of Catholics from across the archdiocese.

ShareLife urges creative ways to give

February 19, 2010

TORONTO - Giving to charity doesn’t necessarily mean having to write a cheque or digging around in your pockets for bills and change. At the archdiocese of Toronto, Paul Nazareth, manager of planned giving and personal gifts, gets to see a variety of creative givers, including one donor who gives to 25 different charities all at once through the gift of stocks.

Thornhill chapel keeps Eucharist in good company for 25 years

February 19, 2010

THORNHILL, Ont. - For the past 25 years, before 6 a.m. every Sunday, parishioner Eva Parisi stops by St. Paschal Baylon Church’s Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Adoration Chapel to keep watch over the Eucharist. Perpetual eucharistic adoration is an ancient tradition that’s been kept alive for the past quarter century at Catholic churches, including Thornhill’s St. Paschal Baylon.

Toronto Catholic board needs to direct surplus to special ed, union says

February 19, 2010

TORONTO - With a projected $3-million surplus for next year’s budget, the Toronto Catholic District School Board should sink the money into special education, says its teachers’ union. Anthony Bellissimo, head of the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers’ union, said the board needs to reverse the reassignment of 67 special education teachers it made last year.

Feminism for men

February 19, 2010

When I tell people that I’m an aspiring male feminist, they can’t help but raise their eyebrows. Their surprise is understandable, but I’ve always thought it a little uninformed. What they don’t understand is what constitutes feminism in the first place and how men can contribute. Amid cultural confusion, the feminist movement is mistakenly identified with reactionary ideas. The feminist movement is more than a reactionary cause, but is usually identified as such because of the way it’s been overtaken by secular values.

Friars' Student Writing Award contest leads youth to Scriptures

February 19, 2010

Sarah Robinson of Port Dover, Ont., has taken first prize in the eighth annual Friars’ Student Writing Award contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Grade 11 student from Holy Trinity Catholic School was awarded an iPod touch for her essay that focused on the biblical passage “You are witnesses to these things.” “For those who participated, it does send them back to the Scripture which is an important experience for the youth of today, and it’s one of the goals the archbishop has cited for Catholic education,” said Fr. Damian MacPherson, SA, director for ecumenical and interfaith affairs for the archdiocese of Toronto.”

Witnesses joyfully spread the love of God's truth

February 19, 2010

Editor’s note: This is the winning entry for the Friars essay contest. After Jesus rose from the dead and made Himself known to His disciples in Jerusalem, He gave them a mission that He invites us to partake in as well. We, too, need to tell the truth and we are called to do it joyfully. When Jesus appeared to His disciples He allowed them to hear His voice, see His body and touch His wounds. By engaging in this intimate verification of their Lord, the disciples realized that their beloved teacher was in their midst. With Jesus’ appearance, they not only became witnesses to the Resurrection, they became witnesses to the truth of Jesus’ entire life and ministry. All He has told them is true. Jesus said, “You are witnesses to these things.” Jesus meant that the disciples had seen the truth. They were obliged, impelled to tell what they know. Jesus challenged them to do so. By calling the disciples to be witnesses, Jesus united them together in Himself.

The ugly truth of Canada's First Nations teen suicide

February 19, 2010

Stretched thinner and thinner across Canada’s North, the church is losing touch with First Nations communities as First Nations communities lose touch with hope. Another wave of teen suicides in the James Bay region has left church leaders wondering how they can offer hope to young aboriginals when they have so little contact with them. “It used to be that the churches had a real big involvement in the communities,” said Bishop Vincent Cadieux, bishop of the Moosonee and Hearst dioceses. “That’s less and less now.”

Take up the cross and follow in His footsteps

February 19, 2010

Second Sunday of Lent (Year C) Feb. 28 (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:7-4:1; Luke 9:28-36) Gazing into a starry sky on a dark night can be a humbling experience. The entire universe seems alive with billions of points of light. The inspiring nature of this encounter with the infinite can deepen one’s faith. But it can also be extremely humbling and some may even find their faith shaken as they contemplate comparative human insignificance in the face of such incredible expanse.

Avatar's sappy, 'dumbed down' spirituality

February 19, 2010

Hardly a week into its inaugural run, Hollywood’s big Christmas release, Avatar, evolved from just another holiday blockbuster into a full-scale cultural phenomenon. It skipped past $1 billion in box office receipts faster than any film in history and by the end of January it had become the first movie ever to gross more than $2 billion. Millions have seen Avatar, critics have heaped praise on it and it’s currently up for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (James Cameron.)

Free speech, respect for others must be encouraged

February 19, 2010

If there is one subject that provokes more complaints of media bias than religion, it would probably be abortion. From the time of the legalization debates in the 1960s, most pro-life groups have believed their message has been suppressed or misrepresented, and I would not be surprised if some pro-choice groups have felt the same way. But one thing about the debate that has changed is the addition of a free-speech component to the moral and religious issues.

Encountering God in the lab

February 19, 2010

One of the myths of our age declares that there is a war between the traditions of science and religion. Those who promote this myth assert that the conflict between science and religion is a necessary consequence of the fundamental incompatibility of these two systems. The stakes of this conflict are heightened by claims that only science has the power to lead the world into a future that is rational, just and sustainable. While acknowledging the concern shown by people of faith for the marginalized of the world, the warriors of science accuse the religious of being dangerously ideological and distracted by vague concepts of the afterlife where the righteous will gain release from trials of this world.

A time to give

February 19, 2010

In Charity in Truth Pope Benedict XVI described charity as “love received and given,” and as the 2010 ShareLife appeal is launched the pontiff’s words are being put to action. In the archdiocese of Toronto a parishioner who has donated anonymously in the past stepped forward on the eve of this campaign with a pledge to match up to $500,000 in new money collected by ShareLife. Not only will every dollar from first-time donors be matched, but every dollar above last year’s contribution by previous donors will also be doubled by this nameless benefactor.

Brother André made a saint by Pope

February 19, 2010

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI will create six new saints Oct. 17, including Blessed André Bessette, the first Canadian-born man to become a saint. Brother André founded St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal and was known for his intense piety, famed for miraculous cures and praised for his dedication to building the shrine to honour St. Joseph.

ShareLife 2010 campaign goal is $14.15 million

February 19, 2010

TORONTO - After a tremendous campaign to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti, ShareLife has switched gears to now help those in its own backyard. “Our Catholic community has always responded to the needs and been very generous and now, as we do each year, we are going to turn our attention to the needs of our greater community in the archdiocese of Toronto and the many people who rely on ShareLife social service agencies and ShareLife agencies for help each year,” said Arthur Peters, executive director of ShareLife.

February 22

Bishop Lahey trial on child porn charges set for spring 2011

February 22, 2010

OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey’s trial on charges of possessing and importing child pornography has been set for the spring of 2011. The trial will begin April 26, 2011 and run until May 6, Assistant Crown Attorney David Elhadad told CCN. The former bishop of Antigonish, N.S., is not expected to appear in an Ottawa court until his trial starts in more than a year’s time. Lahey has been living in a retired priest’s residence in the Ottawa archdiocese since Oct. 9.

February 25

Fraternity of St. Peter's days in Toronto over

February 25, 2010

TORONTO - Due to a pastoral reassignment, the Fraternity of St. Peter will be leaving the archdiocese of Toronto on Feb. 28, but the Tridentine Mass they brought here will remain. Fr. Howard Venette, the only priest from the fraternity based in Toronto, said he is being reassigned to a parish affiliated with the Fraternity in Sarasota, Fla.

Irish abuse victims express anger with Pope

February 25, 2010

DUBLIN, Ireland - Victims of clerical child sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin said they are close to despair because the church will not take full responsibility for covering up the abuse. Clergy abuse survivors met with Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Feb. 19 to discuss the outcome of the meeting of Irish bishops with Pope Benedict XVI and senior officials from the Roman Curia. The Feb. 15-16 Vatican meeting reviewed a November report by an independent commission that investigated how the archdiocese handled complaints of clerical child sexual abuse between 1975 and 2004. The commission “found that the church deliberately covered up allegations of child abuse, but the only senior person who seems to accept that is Archbishop Martin,” Maeve Lewis, director of the One in Four abuse survivors’ group, told Catholic News Service.

Brother André to be canonized

February 25, 2010

MONTREAL - Just 73 years after his death, Brother André will become the first Canadian-born man elevated to sainthood. The news of his Oct. 17 canonization, one of six announced by Pope Benedict XVI Feb. 19, was met with elation by the members of the church in Montreal.